Supporting means for ladles



y H. H. NEEDHAM ET AL 2,165,066

' SUPPORTING MEANS FOR LADLES Filed July 22, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l IHoward HNeedham Hen A.5c zmifz,./'r: I re erz'ckKZerbe INVENTORS.-

'1939- H. H. NEEDHAM El AL 2,165,066 SUPPORTING MEANS FOR LADLES I FiledJuly 22, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Howard l-LN'eea'Imm Henry A.5rhmifz,.fr:

Frederick K. Zerbe INVENTORS ATTORNEY.

Patented July 4, 1939 SUPPORTING MEANS FOR LADLES Howard H. Needham,Wauwatosa, and Henry A. Schmitz, Jr., and Frederick K. Zerbe, 'Milwaukee. Wis., assignors to A. 0. Smith Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis., acorporation of New York Application July 22, 1937, Serial No. 154,970

4 Claims. (01. 22-42) The present invention relates to an improved meansof supporting a ladle or similar article which is subject to extremelyheavy. loads. Ladies used in the steel mills for carrying molten 5 metalform the readiest application for the supporting means herein disclosed.

Such ladies are commonly made of a steel shell and are lined with brickor other fire proofing material, Loads in excess of one hundred tons 10of molten metal are frequently carried in the ladle and means forsupporting the ladle while it is moved in the mill or set at rest mustbe provided which will safely handle this great weight.

15 In present practice, cast or forged trunnions are usually mountedeither by casting or riveting directly to the shell of the ladle. Suchcast-.- ings or forgings are necessarily heavy and bulky and increasethe already great load which cranes must support when moving a ladle andits contents.

Attempts have been made to reduce the weight of the trunnion mountingsby employing a steel frame work to support the trunnions. It has 25 beenfound that when the trunnions are mounted directly on the ladle, =heattransfers from the molten metal set up indeterminable stresses in thetrunnions and their mountings and no matter with what care andforethought designs are 30 made, the sudden expansion and contraction ofthe metal causes weaknesses and there are frequent failures with greatresulting damage and danger.

The object of the present invention is to pro- 35 vide a frame work andtrunnion mounting which is completely separate from the ladle and whichwill support the ladle safely and securely. By designing the support insuch a manner that the trunnions become a part of the frame and.are

40 not attached to the ladle, indeterminable stresses arising from theexpansion and contraction of metal due to the heat of the ladle contentscannot affect the load carrying characteristics of the supporting means.

45 Another object of the invention is to lighten the weight of thetrunnions and their mountings'in order to promote economy in theirproduction and use. 5 A further object is to provide a support havingtrunnion mountings which are a part of the support rather than theladle, and thus permit centering cf the trunnions in such a manner withrespect to the ladle center that the ladle,

55 which is often unevenly balanced, may be made to hang vertically, orat such tilting angle as the needs of the user require.

These and other objects of the invention are more specifically set forthhereinafter in the de scription and drawings illustrating the preferredembodiment of the invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front or end view of the ladle and trunnion, partially incross section;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same ladle and mounting, also partly insection around the mounting;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the same structure;

Fig. 4 is a side view showing an alternative form of transferring theladle load to the trunnions;

Fig. 5 is an alternative form of trunnion mounting in cross section; and

Fig. 6 is still another form of trunnion mounting in cross section.

In all of the drawings and the ladle itself is shown without details; itwill be understood that the ladle must be equipped with means fortapping and pouring the molten metal, and such other features as arecommonly used in ladle construction. The ladles shown herein are ofelliptical horizontal section, but it will be apparent that the presentinvention will be equally applicable to a ladle of circular crosssection or of any other form.

Referring to Figure 1, the ladle I is equipped '30 with a horizontalring 2 which extends around the outside of the ladle a short distancefrom the top. This ring rests on the support and must carry the entireload of the ladle and its contents. Conventional ladies have sides whichtaper inwardly toward the bottom and conse quently the surrounding ring,which is continuous, cannot be sheared from the shell without breakingopen the ring or rupturing the ladle shell. In this manner the weight ofthe ladle 40 is transferred to the support at all points on itscircumference and is evenly distributed over the area of the shell abovethe ring. The ring 3 on which the ladle ring rests will follow theexternal contour of the ladle, but will be of a larger size in order topermit expansion of the ladle within its confines. Lugs fltmay be builtup on the top of ring 3 at spaced intervals along the outer periphery toserve as centering means for the ladle when it is placed inside thesupport. 5

The support consists of the ring 3, as mentioned, and a lower ring 5,also horizontal, the two rings being joined together by "a plate 6,shown in the cross sectional part of Fig 2. The

plate 6 will cover the entire area between the for transferring theladle load between the rings. A number of vertical brackets 1 aredisposed within the plate 6 for reinforcing purposes. Since the ordinaryconstruction of ladies calls for a tapered shell, the internal radius ofthe ring 5 will be less than that for the ring. 3 and the verticalbrackets .1 may have an inside taper to correspond to the taper of'theshell. This will facilitate centering the ladle in the support'andprevent damage to the support when the ladle is'lowered into thesupport. The design of the lower ring and brackets must afford anopportunity for ladle expansion however, the same as in the case of theupper ring, the object being to provide means whereby the ladle Willrest loosely in the support and beat all timesout of contact with thesupport except at the ring 3 upon which the ladle rests.

To support the ladle when it is desired to rest it on stationarysupports on the floor, frame structures are provided which are locatedbeneath the ring 5 and preferably beneath thetrunnions. The framestructure consists of a horizontal plate 9 which will rest on thestationary support II, a vertical plate I!) welded to' the bottom of thering 5 and to the top of the plate 9, and brackets l2 to reinforce thestructure. Inclined brackets 8 will transfer the forces bearing on thestationary support to a greater area of the ring 5.

As before stated there is an area between the rings on opposite sides ofthe support in which the trunnions are mounted. This area is rectangularin form and the front view of the trannion i3 is shown 'on Fig. 2. Figs.1, 2 and 3 show a preferred form of mounting the trunnions whichutilizes a box-like frame structure capable of transferring severestrains.

Plates I 4 and iii are designed to fit inside the rectangular space leftopen in plate 6. These plates are welded to the rings 3 and 5 and thevertical brackets l6 and ,l1. The plates contain an aperture Withinwhich is lodged an annular sleeve l8 having an internal radius such thatit will fit tightly around the trunnion l3. Ribs I9 extend from theoutside periphery of the sleeve l8 to the rings 3 and 5, as shown onFig. 2, to reinforce the mountings and distribute the stresses over therings. Additional horizontal ribs 29 may be spaced between the bracketsl6 and I! and the nearest vertical brackets 1. These ribs, of-course,

. will be' located inside the plate 6.

The trunnions are preferably forged and the design for the extendingportion is conventional with the flange l3 adapted to prevent the ladlehook from sliding off the trunnion. The inner end of the trunnion isextended in radius to pro.- videa seat against which the inner end ofthe sleeve l8 may rest. This extension or rim prevents the possibilityof pulling the trunnions from the mounting in the event the weld betweenthe sleeve and trunnion should prove defective; It will also serve totransfer the stresses more equally between the box like structure formedby the plates i4 and I5.

In'Fig. 5 an alternative form of mounting the trunnions is shown. Inthis embodiment the sleeve I8 is dispensed with and the radius of thetrunnion is extended to provide a rim 2!] to which greater resultingsafety.

the plate 2| is welded directly. Plate 22 is welded to the extendedportion of thetrunnion at 23 and to the reduced extension at 24. Thisdesign is lighter and would be more adapted to lighter weight ladies.

In Fig. 6, instead of using two plates to connect the trunnion to thesupport, one large plate is used on which the trunnion is mounted bydisposing the trunnion radially within an aperture in the plate. Thedarkened sections indicate the preferable locations for welding theparts of the structure.

It frequently happens that the ladies are over filled or slightly tiltedresulting in the overflow j of metal and slag from. the top of theladle. Some "of the metal will drop onto the trunnion and the effect ofthe hot metal is to cause cracks and damage to parts afiected.Consequently a ring 25 may be placed over the extended portion of thetrunnion as shown in Fig. 6, and this ring may be replaced, if injuredwith less expense than the replacement of the trunnion and will serve toprotect the trunnion from these injurious effects. 5

In Fig. 4, instead of using a ring 2 as a rest for the ladle, a numberof brackets 26 are welded to the outside of the ladle beneath the flange21 at the top of the ladle. Reinforcing plates 28 may be disposedbetween the brackets 26 at different intervals. By extending thebrackets to the outside of the ring 3 the force transmitted is extendedto a greater area of the ring with Whether the means shown in Fig. 1 orin Fig. 4 be employed, it will be appreciated that the principle of theinvention is the same, that of supporting the ladle loosely .in the ringby means for resting the ladle on the ring 3. Accordingly no limitationon the scope of the invention is intended to be madeby the particularmeans herein illustrated and described.

In order to prevent the support from slipping off the ladle when theladle is placed at rest on its own bottom rather than thestationarysupports ll, lugs 30 are welded to the ladle shell a shortdistance below the lower ring 5. When the support isto be completely.removed from the ladle these lugs may be, easily cut off and theladlelifted' out of the support.

Since the ladies are often designed with one end, at which the metal istapped, lower than other portions of the bottom, the resulting increasein weight on this side'will cause the ladle to hang at a tilting angleif suspended through its geometric center. To cause the ladle to hangperfectly vertical the trunnion axis may be offset to compensate for thevariation between the center of gravity of the ladle and its geometriccenter. By mounting the trunnions on the supporting member instead ofthe ladle, different supports may be used with different ladies and thedesired hanging angle obtained.

One of the principal features of this invention is the great saving inweight effected by the structure employed. This results inan initialcost Suchfactors can be com-,

and contraction of vthe metal ladle cannot effect the supporting meansand cause fracture due to the unequal expansion and contraction of suchmembers.

We claim:

1. In combination with a ladle having a horizontal, outwardly extendingflange near the top thereof, a support consisting of two horizontalconcentric rings spaced apart and joined by a body member, said flangeresting on the upper of said rings, means on said upper ring andcooperating with said flange for centering said ladle in said support sothat at all points the ladle is spaced away from the support, andtrunnions mounted on said support for lifting said ladle.

2. In combination with a ladle having a continuous ring surrounding thesame and near the top thereof, a support enclosing the ladle comprisinga body member, an upper supporting ring upon which the ladle ring restsand lugs on the top horizontal surface of said upper supporting ring,centering the ladle in said support and spacing the same therefrom.

3. A support for a ladle comprising a body to enclose the ladle, meansfor spacing said body from the ladle to prevent direct heat transferfrom the latter to the former, horizontal rings at the top and bottom ofsaid body, vertical ribs connecting said rings and forming rectangularsections on opposite sides of said support for trunnion mountings, apair of vertical plates in each of said rectangular section, bearingsleeves perpendicular to said plates and disposed therein, and trunnionsinserted in saidbearing sleeves and welded thereto.

4. In combination with a ladle having an outwardly extending flange nearthe top thereof, a support comprising a member encircling said ladle andupon which said flange rests, means 01" spacing said support from theladle walls, trunnions mounted in alignment on opposite sides of saidsupport for lifting the same, and a frame structure disposed beneatheach trunnion and welded to said member for supporting the same when atrest.

HOWARD H. NEEDHAM. HENRY A. SCHMITZ, JR. FREDERICK K. ZERBE.

